I don't know if I've introduced myself or not!

[bagsmom]

I should do a "before pond digging" and "after pond digging" picture of my biceps.

 

[Sarcasticshrub]

Oh yeah -- what will I do with the soil?

You'd be surprised how much of that soil you will reuse during the building of your pond. Everything from building up a berm to raising the waterfall (you know you wan one) and back filling behind liner, and so on. I made the mistake of hauling all of the dirt from my dig to my pasture, just to haul quite a bit back later.

Start collecting those lovely rocks, especially the big ones! You will save $$$ on purchasing them when you start to build. Driftwood will come in hand as well.

 

[addy1]

I used every bit of excess soil and dug some up from the field. I did need to build a large dirt berm for the downhill side of my pond around 8 feet up.
My pond in Arizona, flat land I used the soil to make texture to the yard around the pond, mounds, hills, stream bed etc.